I. Introduction

This document sets out EndHotel’s Policy concerning children, i.e. services provided to minors and the principles we follow in the process of providing services to minors.

This Policy implements the provisions of the Act of 13 May 2016 on Counteracting Threats of Sexual Crime and the Protection of Minors (Journal of Laws of 2016, item 862, as amended), as well as the content of the United Nations guidelines on business and human rights.

II. Services for minors

At EndHotel, we offer stays for families with children. Details of the currently available offers are available at www.endhotel.pl/artkids.

During their stay at the hotel and restaurant, guests may request additional equipment for children, such as a cot, baby bath or high chair.

We do not provide childcare services for children using EndHotel’s services.

We do not provide internships or work placements for underage students.

We do not allow unaccompanied stays of minors at the hotel.

III. Rules concerning the stay and presence of minors at EndHotel

Minors must remain on the Hotel premises exclusively under the supervision of their legal guardians.

When arriving at the hotel, children should have identity documents that allow hotel staff to identify them in accordance with applicable regulations.

Persons travelling with children who are not their legal guardians should present at the hotel reception a written consent from the child’s parent/legal guardian to travel with the minor (a template of such consent is provided in Appendix No. 1).

Reception staff are required to identify minors and establish their relationship with their accompanying adults. For this purpose, they will request the children’s identity documents and ask their guardians to complete the Minor Identification Form (a template is provided in Appendix No. 2).

Hotel staff may not be alone with minors while performing their duties, e.g. when cleaning a room or providing room service.

Hotel staff may not provide childcare in any form to minors using the hotel’s services.

Staff are required to familiarise themselves with and comply with the Standards for the Protection of Minors referred to in the Act on Counteracting Threats of Sexual Crime and the Protection of Minors.

IV. Standards for the Protection of Minors (SOM)

The procedures and principles contained in the SOM are intended to increase employees’ awareness and knowledge regarding the safety of minors staying at EndHotel and to introduce safeguards minimising the risk of harm to children. The following principles and procedures apply in cases where there is a suspicion that a child staying at the Hotel is being harmed, as well as for the prevention of such risks.

The Standards for the Protection of Minors at EndHotel are implemented based on the following principles:

• EndHotel conducts its operations with respect for children’s rights as persons particularly vulnerable to harm.
• EndHotel recognises its role in conducting socially responsible business and promoting desirable social attitudes.
• EndHotel places particular emphasis on the legal and social obligation to notify law enforcement authorities of any suspected offence against children and undertakes to train its employees in this regard.

1. Definitions

For the purposes of this document, the following terms shall have the meanings specified below:

1. Child/minor – for the purposes of these standards, a child is any person under 18 years of age.[1]

2. Child’s guardian – the child’s statutory representative: a parent or legal guardian; foster parent; temporary guardian (i.e. a person authorised to represent a minor Ukrainian citizen staying in the territory of the Republic of Poland without the care of adult persons).[2]

3. Unrelated adult – any person over 18 years of age who is not the child’s parent or legal guardian.

4. Child abuse – behaviour that may constitute the commission of a prohibited act against a child by any person, including an employee of the entity, or a threat to the child’s welfare, including neglect; any intentional or unintentional action or omission by an individual, institution or society as a whole, and any result of such action or inaction that violates children’s rights, freedoms or personal interests and/or interferes with their optimal development.

5. Forms of violence against a child:

Physical violence against a child means violence as a result of which a child suffers actual physical harm or is potentially exposed to such harm. Such harm results from an action or omission on the part of a parent or another person responsible for the child, trusted by the child or having authority over the child. Physical violence against a child may be a repeated or one-time act.

Psychological violence against a child means a chronic, non-physical, harmful interaction between a child and a caregiver, including both actions and omissions. This includes, among others: emotional unavailability, emotional neglect, a relationship with the child based on hostility, blaming, denigrating, rejecting, developmentally inappropriate or inconsistent interactions with the child, failure to recognise or acknowledge the child’s individuality and psychological boundaries between parent and child.

Sexual abuse of a child means involving a child in sexual activity that the child is unable to fully understand and consciously consent to and/or for which the child is not developmentally mature and cannot legally consent and/or which is contrary to the legal or customary norms of a given society. Sexual abuse occurs when such activity takes place between a child and an adult or between a child and another child, where due to their age or level of development the persons involved are in a relationship of care, dependence or authority. Sexual abuse may also take the form of sexual exploitation, meaning any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power or trust for sexual purposes, including, but not limited to, deriving financial, social or political benefit from the sexual exploitation of another person. The risk of sexual exploitation is particularly high during humanitarian crises. Both children and their caregivers may be at risk of exploitation (definition based on United Nations Bulletin ST/SGB/2003/13).

Child neglect means chronic or incidental failure to meet a child’s basic physical and psychological needs and/or failure to respect the child’s fundamental rights, resulting in impaired health and/or difficulties in development. Neglect occurs in a relationship between a child and a person who is responsible for the child’s care, upbringing, welfare and protection.

6. Offence against a child – all offences that may be committed against adults, as well as offences that may be committed exclusively against children (e.g. sexual abuse under Article 200 of the Criminal Code[3]). Due to the specific nature of accommodation facilities, where it is relatively easy to obtain an opportunity for isolation, offences most likely to occur on their premises are offences against sexual freedom and morality, in particular rape (Article 197 of the Criminal Code), sexual exploitation of a person’s mental incapacity or helplessness (Article 198), sexual exploitation of dependency or a critical situation (Article 199), sexual exploitation of a person under 15 years of age (Article 200), and grooming (enticing a minor through means of remote communication – Article 200a).

7. Other forms of child abuse than the commission of an offence against a child – all forms of violence against a child that do not constitute an offence prosecuted ex officio (e.g. shouting, humiliating, grabbing, insulting, neglecting needs, etc.).

8. Employee – a person employed under an employment contract or providing work under a similar type of agreement (e.g. civil-law contract, B2B agreement, contract for specific work), as well as a trainee, intern, volunteer, etc.

9. Act – the Act of 13 May 2016 on Counteracting Threats of Sexual Crime and the Protection of Minors.

Hotel staff

General principles

1. EndHotel undertakes to educate its employees about circumstances indicating that a child staying at the facility may be experiencing abuse and about ways of responding quickly and appropriately to such situations through various forms of training, including external and internal training, e-learning, educational materials developed by the hotel and made available to employees, and educational materials freely available and developed by other organisations.

2. Before being permitted to work, every employee is familiarised with the SOM, which they confirm by signing a declaration and undertaking to comply with the principles and procedures contained in this document. The SOM are issued in the form of a procedure.

3. EndHotel undertakes to take into account the situation of children with disabilities.

Scope of competence and responsibility of persons designated to implement the Standards for the Protection of Minors

1. Supervision over the implementation of the SOM is carried out by the Hotel Director – SOM Coordinator (hereinafter referred to as the “Coordinator”), appointed by the company’s management board. In the Coordinator’s absence, the Reception Manager acts as their substitute.

2. The Coordinator is responsible for familiarising employees with the SOM and monitoring their implementation at the Hotel.

3. The Coordinator organises and documents the employee education process concerning the recognition of signs that a child staying at the facility may be experiencing abuse and the methods of responding quickly and appropriately to such situations, in accordance with the procedures adopted by the facility.

4. The Coordinator compiles documentation concerning each incident and stores it in paper and electronic form.

5. In the event of a justified suspicion that an offence has been committed, the Coordinator is responsible for securing evidence, including CCTV recordings, and providing them at the request of the relevant authorities, in accordance with the procedure for providing personal data.

6. The Coordinator is responsible for conducting the procedure where a child has been harmed by a member of the facility’s staff or another adult who is not directly employed by EndHotel but by a third-party entity.

7. The Coordinator is responsible for monitoring and updating the SOM and ensuring their availability to employees, guests and other entities cooperating with the facility.

8. The Coordinator’s details are available to all employees and, through the reception, also to Hotel guests.

Rules for safe employee–child relationships

1. The following rules apply to all EndHotel employees, as well as other adults who have contact with children on the premises if such contact takes place with the facility’s consent.

2. The fundamental principle of all actions undertaken by employees who have contact with children staying at the Hotel is to treat the child with respect and take into account their dignity and needs.

3. Employees and other adults must not use violence against a child in any form.

Conduct and practices expected of employees

• Be patient and respectful when communicating with a child.
• Listen carefully to the child and provide answers appropriate to their age and the situation. When communicating with a child, try to keep your face at the child’s eye level.
• Assure the child that if they feel uncomfortable in any situation, they can tell you or another designated person and receive help.
• Inform the child where the SOM are available on the premises in a version understandable to them. Assure them that if they have any questions, they can contact you or a member of the reception staff.
• Treat all children equally regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, physical ability/disability, social, ethnic, cultural or religious status, or worldview.
• Ensure a safe environment. If children are present in the area where you work, make sure that equipment and facilities are used as intended and that the surroundings are safe (pay attention to window and stair safeguards, restricted access to busy roads, open water, etc.).
• If you see a child or children left unattended and the situation may indicate a threat to the child’s safety, take action to locate the parent or guardian.

Conduct and practices prohibited for employees in relation to children at the facility

• You must not shout at, shame, humiliate, disregard or insult a child.
• You must not hit, push, shove or otherwise violate the physical integrity of a child, unless there is a threat to the child’s health or life.
• You must not establish any romantic or sexual relationship with a child or make inappropriate propositions to a child. This also includes sexual comments, jokes, gestures and providing children with erotic or pornographic content in any form.
• You must not record or photograph a child’s image for private or professional purposes without the consent of the child’s parents/guardians and the child’s own consent. This also applies to allowing third parties to record children’s images. An exception applies where the child’s image is merely part of a larger whole, such as a gathering, landscape or public event; in such cases, the consent of the parent/guardian is not required.
• You must not contact a child through private communication channels (private telephone, email, messaging applications or social media profiles) or meet the child outside the workplace.
• You must not offer a child alcohol, tobacco products or illegal substances.
• Never touch a child if they do not want to be touched or in a way that could be considered indecent or inappropriate.
• If you witness any of the above-described behaviour and/or situations involving other adults or children, always inform the Coordinator or your direct supervisor.

3. Procedure for identifying a child during registration at reception

1. One of the effective ways of preventing harm to children is to establish the identity of a child staying at the facility and their relationship with the adult accompanying them.

2. The reception employee shall take all possible steps to identify the child and establish their relationship with the adult accompanying the child.

To identify the child and establish their relationship with the person accompanying them at the facility, the Employee verifies the identity documents of minors and adults. Examples of documents that may be used for identification include: identity card, school ID, mObywatel application, Internet Patient Account, or a court order.

If the adult is the child’s parent or legal guardian, they shall complete the legal guardian’s declaration, the template of which is provided in Appendix No. 1.

If the adult is not the child’s parent or legal guardian, they should present a document, e.g. a notarised consent from the parent authorising that person to travel with the child, or a consent signed by the child’s parent specifying the child’s details, the parent’s telephone contact details and the identity document number of the person entrusted by the parent with the care of the child (the legal guardian consent template is provided in Appendix No. 2), and complete the relevant declaration.

3. In the event of any doubts regarding the identification of the child or their relationship with the adult, the employee shall inform the Coordinator.

4. If there is a belief that an attempt has been made to commit or that an offence against a child has been committed, the Coordinator shall notify the police.

4. Procedure in circumstances indicating that a child is being harmed by an adult

1. A justified suspicion of child abuse exists when:

• the child has disclosed to a member of the facility’s staff that they are being harmed;
• an employee has witnessed the abuse;
• the child has visible signs of abuse (e.g. scratches or bruises) and, when asked about them, responds inconsistently and/or chaotically or becomes embarrassed, or other circumstances exist that may indicate abuse, e.g. finding pornographic material involving children in an adult’s room.

2. An employee who has a justified suspicion that a child staying at the facility is being or has been harmed should immediately notify their supervisor/Coordinator, who shall notify the police. If there is an existing threat to the child’s safety, the employee who has a justified suspicion that the child has been harmed shall immediately notify the police by calling 112 and describing the circumstances of the incident. Regardless of the above, the employee shall notify the Coordinator of the incident.

3. Staff should make every effort to prevent or even make it impossible for the child and the person suspected of harming the child to leave the Hotel.

4. In the circumstances specified in the Code of Criminal Procedure, a citizen’s arrest may be made of the person suspected of committing the offence.

5. In every case, the child’s safety must be ensured. Where possible, the child should remain under the supervision of an employee until the police arrive.

5. Procedure in the event of suspected or confirmed abuse of a child by an employee or another adult

In the event of suspected abuse of a child by an employee or another adult who is not directly employed by EndHotel but by a third-party entity, the person who becomes aware of such circumstances should immediately inform the Coordinator or, in their absence, their substitute.

2. If the child’s life or health is at risk, the person who becomes aware of the situation should immediately notify the police by calling the emergency number 112, providing their own details, the child’s details (where possible), the child’s location and a description of the circumstances, and should also notify the Coordinator/supervisor, who shall notify the child’s parents/guardians.

3. If an employee has committed a form of harm against a child other than an offence against the child, the Coordinator, after receiving the information, should examine all circumstances of the case, in particular by hearing the employee suspected of causing the harm and other witnesses to the incident. Where the violation of the child’s welfare is significant, in particular where discrimination or a violation of the child’s dignity has occurred, the Coordinator should recommend to the company’s management board that appropriate personnel measures be taken against the employee.

4. If there is a suspicion that the Coordinator is the person causing harm, the incident should be reported to the Coordinator’s supervisor or another department manager at EndHotel.

5. A person reporting suspected or confirmed abuse of a child must not suffer any negative consequences as a result of making such a report, particularly from the employee suspected of causing the harm. Where possible and necessary, the anonymity of reporting persons should be guaranteed.

6. Procedure in the event of other forms of violence against a child by a parent/legal guardian or another adult

1. If a child is being harmed by a parent/legal guardian or another adult with whom the child is staying at the facility, every employee who witnesses such behaviour should respond firmly.

2. If the child’s life or health is at risk, the person who becomes aware of the situation should immediately notify the police by calling the emergency number 112, providing their own details, the child’s details (where possible), the child’s location and a description of the circumstances, and should also notify their supervisor/the person responsible for making decisions.

3. If a facility employee witnesses physical violence against a child (slapping, grabbing, shouting or any other behaviour included in the definition of physical violence), they should attempt to stop the abuse and intervene.

4. If a child under 7 years of age is left unattended, the employee who becomes aware of the incident should notify their supervisor. The supervisor who has been informed of the situation shall decide on further action, taking into account the circumstances and the relevant provisions of the Criminal Code and the Code of Petty Offences.[4] Depending on the circumstances, the supervisor shall attempt to locate the parent/legal guardian or another adult with whom the child is staying at the facility and explain that the child may not be left unattended. If it is impossible to locate the parent/legal guardian or another adult with whom the child is staying at the facility, or if the parent/legal guardian/other adult does not wish to or is unable to take responsibility for the child, the supervisor shall notify the police. In every case, the child’s safety must be ensured.

7. Monitoring and evaluation of the Standards for the Protection of Minors

1. Once every two years, or whenever the relevant regulations are amended, the Coordinator shall monitor and evaluate the SOM after reviewing comments and needs reported by department managers and employees.

2. Monitoring and evaluation include verification of the implementation of the Standards, responding to reports of violations of the principles and procedures, and proposing amendments to the document, particularly in terms of adapting it to current needs and ensuring compliance with applicable regulations.